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WOS: 000365166000002, PubMed ID: 26271257, The distribution of phlebotomine sand flies is widely reported to be changing in Europe. This can be attributed to either the discovery of sand flies in areas where they were previously overlooked (generally following an outbreak of leishmaniasis or other sand fly-related disease) or to true expansion of their range as a result of climatic or environmental changes. Routine surveillance for phlebotomines in Europe is localized, and often one of the challenges for entomologists working in non-leishmaniasis endemic countries is the lack of knowledge on how to conduct, plan and execute sampling for phlebotomines, or how to adapt on-going sampling strategies for other haematophagous diptera. This review brings together published and unpublished expert knowledge on sampling strategies for European phlebotomines of public health concern in order to provide practical advice on: how to conduct surveys; the collection and interpretation of field data; suitable techniques for the preservation of specimens obtained by different sampling methods; molecular techniques used for species identification; and the pathogens associated with sand flies and their detection methods.

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This work tackles the question of power generation by means of gasification. Growing economies and global warming are important challenges these years: so that cleaner and more efficient power plants designs have to be achieved. In this context, Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plants have an important role, due to their more efficient way of producing energy since fossil fuels. Actions are focused on clean power and H2 from coal, and also in bioproducts. So, one of the future of coal-based power generation strategies should be CO2 transport and storage in order to obtain a purer hydrogen stream. This work proposes a tool for estimating final plant outputs and economics for different scenarios. The technical performance has been modeled in Aspen Hysys and Aspen Plus, and models have been validated with real power plant data. Comparisons, in terms of power, emissions, efficiencies and costs between sixteen different plant designs are presented: they enhance differences in raw material, purification units layout, and hydrogen obtention.

Nowadays, renewable energy sources aim at reaching the changes required to address the impact of global warming, alleviate poverty and replace conventional fossil fuel energy sources. Biomass has a promising future as a renewable source of energy that can supply the demand of a modern society in industrialized and developing countries. This work is focused on small scale biomass gasification as the alternative for distributed power generation from different types of biomass sources and it tries to avoid technical, financial and institutional problems in a 15 kg·h-1 pilot plant with downdraft fixed-bed gasifier. At the same time, it pretends to improve the overall energy efficiency of the system under the CHP concept, which it currently is between 15 to 25%. Gas quality represents one of the key parameters for a successful operation of the system and the presence of particles and tars is usually one of the main barriers to overcome. To achieve the removal of these contaminant compounds, an efficient system to clean the producer gas is expected to be applied in the UPC pilot plant. Furthermore, a complex remote real time monitoring and control system is under development which will lead to adequate operation performance., Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 1381-1383

SecureChain (www.securechain.eu) is one of the first HORIZON2020 projects on biomass, focused on promoting the market uptake of bioenergy in six European model regions. The project specifically aims to support SMEs mobilising currently unused amounts of solid biomass and secure supplies through existing or novel bioenergy value chains. During its first phase, SecureChain has characterized the market uptake potential of solid biomass to energy in the six model regions. Following an open call for innovation vouchers, SecureChain has awarded 21 selected SMEs with a mentoring package for the development of a pilot project. The scope of the awarded projects is wide, from optimised wood chips distribution logistics to complete agro-waste to electricity, heating and cooling ESCO supply chains, with an overall expected mobilization of over 300.000 tonnes of solid biomass per year, and the creation of over 300 direct jobs. Also, first Learning Labs – an inclusive process to gather feedback and buy-in from internal and external stakeholders - have been conducted in each model region, to set up in detail the strategy and implementation plan of the pilots. The upcoming steps of the SecureChain project will be to (i) Perform a full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the pilot projects and check their eligibility for sustainability certifications; (ii) Provide tailored financial and technical mentoring to improve business proposals, (iii) identify synergies between pilot projects to strength intra regional supply chains and inspire other model regions (iv) Organise national and European face to face meetings and road shows to showcase the business proposals to potential funders and private investors., Proceedings of the 24th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-9 June 2016, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pp. 1666-1670